Cheryl Schatz

Mark,
You said:

If you look closely at the Hebrew in Genesis 3, there is nothing in the grammar to suggest that Eve’s motive’s were good and Adam’s bad.

Actually I just pointed out in my comment above that Eve could have rightfully blamed Adam when she did not. The question can be put back onto you, why did Eve not blame Adam when she knew that he had not protected her from the evil one? And why did Adam blame God and the woman when he knew right well that God had not sinned by providing the woman to him and the woman had offered what she thought was “good food” without any malice towards Adam?

In fact the ‘desire’ Eve has, is the same word used in the Ten commandments for ‘thy shall not covet’. Her desire was not a good motive.

Are you trying to say that her desire was not part of the effect of the deception done to her? If the reason that she ate was a desire that was sinful and was independent of the deception, then why does not Biblical author charge her with further sin? Why does Paul say that Eve was deceived (2 Cor. 11:3) and he does not say that Eve was covetous?

Also her actions in hiding and covering are the same as Adam.

Both Adam and Eve covered their shame, but the Bible never says that Eve covered her sin by blaming someone illegally. Adam on the other hand is the only one that God charges with covering his sin.

Job 31:33 (NASB)
33 “Have I covered my transgressions like Adam,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

Please show one scripture that charges Eve with covering over her sin.

Verse 12 gives Adam’s defense of his actions. One would expect a direct yes or no answer to God’s probing questions in verse 11. However, Adam does not respond this way. He passes the blame.

You are right in that Adam avoids the question. He avoids answering “yes” or “no” and illegally passes the blame. But the woman does not do this. She is not given a “yes” or “no” question, but God asks her what she did and she gave Him a truthful answer, that the serpent caused a deception and because of that deception she ate.

However, it is interesting that God does not rebuke Adam for what he has said. Wenham states that God’s silence is an indication of his rejection of Adam’s plea. But this appears to be overstated, since nothing Adam said is in and of itself a lie.

God isn’t silent. God said in Genesis 3:17 “because you did (this) and (that) cursed is….” God not only turns Adam’s excuse around as a charge of sin (the first “because” cause), but He adds the words “listened to the voice of your wife” which is an indication that the watchman listening to his wife’s deception in silence was a grave sin.

Similar to the man’s response, the woman shifts the blame

We do not need you to add in an equality of blame-shifting when God clearly divides the blame between legal blame (God concurs by cursing the serpent) and illegal blame (God does not concur with Adam’s blame of the woman but instead God places a curse on the man’s behalf). No curse is ever placed on the woman’s behalf. Those who ignore this clear difference should have their inability to see set aside in favor of the text itself for God is not mocked by an illegal blame game.

You cannot exegetically draw the conclusions that you have, namely, that Eve’s motives were good and Adam’s evil- like Satan. The text speaks against such things.

Sorry, my friend but you are wrong. Eve’s refusal to rightful blame Adam says a lot about her motives while Adam’s attempt at blaming both God and Eve is inescapable as a covering over of his sin by a lie hidden as an excuse. And since God chose to blame only one for covering over of sin, I am happy and content to accept God’s assessment since God alone knows what was in each one of their hearts.

Both are guilty and culpable for their own actions in the fall

Then it seems to me that the blame is now put on God who only holds one fully culpable for their sin. While they both ate the spiritually poisoned fruit and because of that they started the process of death, God pronounced a judgment on only one. Why is that? God has made it clear that He will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Nahum 1:3 (NASB)
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished…

By not cursing Eve or anything else on her behalf, he identified the man and the serpent as the only ones as “guilty” in the fall of man.